BJP leaders organised havans for my death: ManmohanNew Delhi, August 17
Political bickering over the Indo-US nuclear deal just got murkier. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s claim that Opposition leaders had wished death for him because of his resolve to sign the nuclear deal surfaced today after former defence minister George Fernandes criticised him in unusually harsh language.

No ban on N-test in pact: Kakodkar
Bangalore, August 17
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar today made it clear that there was nothing in the nuclear agreement which prevented India from conducting a nuclear test and that the country had instituted a programme for creation of a stockpile of nuclear fuel which would last the lifetime of its reactors.

Ganga wreaks havoc, 3 killed in Bengal
Kolkata, August 17
A turbulent Ganga has caused devastation in a vast area along the Farakka barrage, including five villages in the Manickchak areas of Malda district, during the past 24 hours. Army personnel have been deployed in the flood-hit areas in north Bengal for rescue and relief works.

Office-goers use umbrellas amidst heavy rain near Sealdah station in Kolkata on Friday. — PTI
photo

11 more die in Bihar floods
Patna, August 17
Food situation in Bihar continued to remain grim with the catchment areas of major rivers in Nepal and in the northern plains recording heavy rain over the past two days.

Delhi High Court takes Army to taskPresident’s order violated, says Bench
Chandigarh, August 17
Taking the Army to task for violating the President’s order sanctioning the transfer of a lieutenant colonel to the Judge Advocate-General’s Department, the Delhi High Court has directed the Army Chief to implement the Supreme Commander’s order forthwith.

Dalit barred from unfurling Tricolour
Patna, August 17
In a setback to the Nitish government’s policy of bringing about social reforms in Bihar, a Dalit panchayat chief of Kaimur district was barred from unfurling the Tricolour on Independence Day.

Hansi-Butana Channel
SC stays puncturing of Bhakra canal
New Delhi, August 17
In a major relief to Punjab, the Supreme Court today restrained Haryana from puncturing the Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal for carrying water from it through under-construction Hansi-Butana multipurpose link channel to Kaithal district for irrigation.

Troop Pullout from Kashmir
Time not ripe, says Army chief
Bangalore, August 17
Indian Army chief General J.J. Singh today made it clear that the situation was not right for the withdrawal of troops from Kashmir as the border issue and the issue of infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan remained unresolved.

12 militants held from MLAs’ houses
Imphal, August 17
Twelve members of banned insurgent groups were arrested and pistols, ammunition, rifle parts and extortion notes seized from the official residences of three MLAs of the ruling Congress and the home of a former legislator during a search here today.

Panel favours quota in judiciary
New Delhi, August 17
In a significant proposal, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice has recommended implementation of reservation in the appointment of high court and Supreme Court judges, saying that if it could be applied to IAS, IPS and Central and state services, why should the judiciary be left out.

Parliament panel for SC, HC judges’ quota
New Delhi, August 17
In a suggestion that will bring the higher judiciary into the ambit of quota conundrum, a Parliamentary committee has recommended reservation for Supreme Court and High Court judges.

Dissent against Modi
BJP plays it cool
New Delhi, August 17
The BJP today put up a brave face and ruled out any leadership change in Gujarat even as rebellion against the state Chief Minister grew with another veteran party leader Suresh Mehta openly defying the leadership of Narendra Modi.

Centre blames NDA govt for Assam violence
New Delhi, August 17
Under attack for the brutal killings of Hindi-speaking people in Assam by the outlawed ULFA, the UPA government blamed the previous NDA regime for all the present problems in the North-eastern region, especially Assam.

"I made it clear during the negotiations that we can't agree to a bilateral NPT or CTBT"

New Delhi, August 17
Political bickering over the Indo-US nuclear deal just got murkier. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s claim that Opposition leaders had wished death for him because of his resolve to sign the nuclear deal surfaced today after former defence minister George Fernandes criticised him in unusually harsh language.

The ‘India Today’ magazine today quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as saying in an interview that he was disappointed with BJP’s attitude.

"They (BJP) didn’t even believe I would last as the PM and some leaders even did havans that I should die on a certain day," the Prime Minister had told the magazine in an interview three months back. The magazine said its understanding was that excerpts of the interview could be published once the 123 agreement was reached.

Meanwhile, in the excerpts of the interview released by ‘India Today’ the Prime Minister claimed that the nuclear deal was a ‘logical fallout' of the strategic partnership that the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had begun with the US.

The PM had told ‘India Today’ that he had made it clear to US President George W. Bush during negotiations on the Indo-US nuclear deal that India could not agree to a 'bilateral' NPT or Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

He said it was not in India's interest for Iran to become a nuclear weapons power, although it had the right to have nuclear energy as an NPT signatory. "I told President Bush, I can't be a cheerleader or be part of a warmongering group. The nuclear dispute with Iran should be resolved through peaceful processes," he told the magazine.

Singh recalled that the US President had told him in July 2005, "Don't expect me to help you to build bombs. I told him I didn't expect the US to do that because with our previous achievements, we didn't need anyone's help."

The Prime Minister said, "I made it clear during the negotiations that we can't agree to a bilateral NPT or CTBT. We have a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing and we will exercise restraint."

Bangalore, August 17
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar today made it clear that there was nothing in the nuclear agreement which prevented India from conducting a nuclear test and that the country had instituted a programme for creation of a stockpile of nuclear fuel which would last the lifetime of its reactors.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating a Centre for Fundamental Research for Applicable Mathematics here, Dr Kakodkar, who is also the secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, said India had its own right to conduct nuclear tests and that only the country’s voluntary unilateral moratorium would come in way of any such tests.

He said though there was a provision for secession and termination of the agreement, this would not come in the way of continuation of the programme. He said the agreement could not be terminated abruptly. The procedure for termination had been spelt out, he said, adding that this would include consultation, spelling out the reasons for taking such a step and voicing of security concerns.
— TNS

Kolkata, August 17
A turbulent Ganga has caused devastation in a vast area along the Farakka barrage, including five villages in the Manickchak areas of Malda district, during the past 24 hours. Army personnel have been deployed in the flood-hit areas in north Bengal for rescue and relief works.

The floods also wreaked havoc on Murshidabad district following breaches in the barrage at several places. It separates the Bhagirathi and Padma rivers. The national highways passing through the two districts were closed at several places, disconnecting the south Bengal districts with the North.

After a break of 48 hours, widespread rains began again last night in several parts of the state, particularly in north Bengal districts, leading to flooding in a vast areas in Malda, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri and Dinajpur districts.

In south Bengal also, districts of Hooghly, Howrah, Bardwan, Midnapore and South 24-Parganas have been affected by the floods. The continuing rain has hit normal life in Kolkata.

State irrigation minister Subhas Naskar, who was on a visit to the flood-hit districts in south Bengal, said it was impossible to take any protective measures to plug breaches in the barrage because of a grim flood situation.

He admitted that the short-term measures, which were taken before the monsoon to protect the barrage, proved ineffective. He said several villages had been washed away and there persons were killed in Malda and Murshidabad districts.

Minister for disaster management and agriculture Murtaza Hossain said special rescue teams and civil defence personnel had been sent to the flood-affected districts.

Patna, August 17
Food situation in Bihar continued to remain grim with the catchment areas of major rivers in Nepal and in the northern plains recording heavy rain over the past two days.

Eleven more deaths reported across Bihar today took the toll in the current spell of floods to 311. Around 151.05 lakh people have been affected by floods in 7565 villages spread over 190 blocks in 20
districts, mostly in north Bihar bordering Nepal, in the state.

Keeping in view of the recurring flood caused every year by rivers originating from
Nepal, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urged the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold talks with the government there for constructing dams on rivers originating from the Himalayan kingdom to end the flood menace for once and all.

Talking to newsmen here today Nitish stressed the need to constitute a "Flood
Management Strategy Group " for holding talks with Nepal government on dam construction and generation of hydel power." The state
government is already working on a flood control project through inter-linking of
rivers. But it can not be executed without the financial support by the Centre", Nitish said.

According to reports reaching from the affected North Bihar
districts, angry flood victims looted food from relief camps, assaulted officials and held them hostage yesterday in some areas as fresh rains brought more misery to tens of thousands of people.

Besides,
flood victims fought off hungry animals in some pockets for foods.
"It is a struggle for survival as jackals and monkeys have attacked dozens of villagers over the past few days in many north Bihar districts by biting children and women to snatch foods from
them", an official said.

Meanwhile,
the Patna High court has directed the state government to take effective steps to provide relief to the flood affected people and submit a report to it by August 20. A Dvision Bench comprising Justice Narayan Roy and Justice Mihir Kumar issued the directive on a PIL initiated suo motu by the court on the basis of the reports about the
devastation caused by floods in north Bihar districts.

A team of officials from various Union
ministries would also visit Bihar next week to make an on-the-spot assessment
of the damages caused by the flood following demand for relief and rehabilitation sought by the Nitish government.

Chandigarh, August 17
Taking the Army to task for violating the President’s order sanctioning the transfer of a lieutenant colonel to the Judge Advocate-General’s Department, the Delhi High Court has directed the Army Chief to implement the Supreme Commander’s order forthwith.

“The President is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. It is indeed extraordinary that the respondents (Army) have flagrantly failed to honour the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army,” a Division Bench comprising Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice S.L. Bhayana observed in its order passed yesterday.

The petitioner, Lt Col Mukul Dev, an artillery officer, had contended that he passed the departmental entrance examinations, done attachment with the JAG Department for over three years and had conducted numerous courts martial. Despite this the Army, in October 2006, posted him as a staff officer in Headquarters 11 Corps from a counter-insurgency force where he was serving as the Assistant Judge Advocate-General. This posting order, the court observed, was irreconcilably in variance with the decision of the President.

The court further observed that holding up the transfer did not advance the interests and discipline of the Army. “Once the decision of the President is ignored, this indiscipline would percolate to lesser commands. It does not behove the respondents to ignore the decision of the President and act contrary to its expressed intent,” the Bench observed.

The Army had maintained that it was not transferring the petitioner to the JAG Department as it was still to be established as to how and when he cleared the minimum attendance prescribed by rules for a professional law degree.

Counsel for the petitioner, Maj K Ramesh (retd), told The Tribune that they had relied on a Supreme Court judgement which states that once an admit card has been issued to a candidate and he has appeared for the examinations, the subsequently awarded degree cannot be withdrawn even by the university.

The court also observed that the petitioner was in possession of a valid professional L.LB degree. The court also opined that the Army was not justified in insisting that the petitioner should have met the eligibility criterion for enrolment as an advocate. This requirement can be legitimately insisted upon at the “threshold”, but if it has to be applied at any stage thereafter, Paragraph 82 of the Defence Services Regulation would have to be amended, the Bench observed. This paragraph deals with transfer for officers to the JAG Department.

Patna, August 17
In a setback to the Nitish government’s policy of bringing about social reforms in Bihar, a Dalit panchayat chief of Kaimur district was barred from unfurling the Tricolour on Independence Day.

Much to the embarrassment of political establishment in the state, the incident reportedly took place in the parliamentary constituency of union minister for social justice and empowerment Meira
Kumar.

Dumari panchayat chief Sinhas Ram was assaulted and chased away by some members of the upper caste on August 15 when he and panchayat secretary, also a Dalit, reached the panchayat bhavan to unfurl the National Flag.

Officer in charge of the local police station Sudama Singh said an FIR had been lodged in this connection.

The unsavoury development took place at a time when the Nitish government decided to constitute a maha Dalit commission for the welfare of certain Dalit castes that are socially and educationally backward and treated as untouchables even by the Dalits. Nitish Kumar has already announced the constitution of the commission.

The suggestion for such a commission had been made by the Akhil Bharatiya Musahar-Bhuiyan Sangh at a conference here a few months ago.

A recent survey by some social organisations revealed that some of Dalit castes could not yet get any benefit from reservation due to lack of education. In educational institutions, too, children of these castes were discriminated against and a majority of them dropped out.

Nitish had said that the government would implement the recommendations of the panel for a better social order. The incident at Kaimur happened in spite of the promise made by the chief minister. However, this is not an isolated case.

Last week, a Dalit woman, Lali Devi, was prevented from cooking mid-day meal for schoolchildren at Rohtas.

When Lali went ahead with cooking, school secretary Umashankar
Tiwary, who represents upper caste, and his associates reportedly dragged her out of the kitchen and assaulted her husband publicly. It was only after Nitish took a serious note of the incident that an FIR was lodged against Tiwary and the woman was asked to cook food for children.

New Delhi, August 17
In a major relief to Punjab, the Supreme Court today restrained Haryana from puncturing the Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal for carrying water from it through under-construction Hansi-Butana multipurpose link channel to Kaithal district for irrigation.

A Bench of Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and justice R. V. Raveendran granted the interim stay on the breaking of the canal till further hearing on September 5 while allowing Punjab’s plea for an interim order.

Rajasthan has also joined Punjab in challenging the Haryana government’s action to dig the 20-km long feeder canal from west to east. Both states alleged that Haryana was doing it in violation of the Bhakra Nangal Agreement, 1959. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Punjab along with states special standing counsel Rupinder Singh Suri for all water related disputes, told the court that for the time being “we are not seeking stay on the digging by Haryana”.

“We want protection against puncturing the BML canal. They (Haryana) should not do it till this matter is decided. We are not pressing to stop the digging of the channel,” Salve said.

He said the main fear of Punjab was that 20,756 acres of its land in 70 villages in areas bordering Haryana will be submerged and one lakh people will be displaced. “The threat is real during the ongoing monsoon… it will have far-reaching repercussions for Punjab if the stay was not granted,” Salve said.

Haryana’s counsel Shanti Bhushan opposed issuance of the stay order and raised certain points on the rules and procedure in passing interim orders in original suits filed before the Supreme Court.

He said there was no need for passing an interim stay, clarifying that Haryana was not right now puncturing the BML canal. He said under Supreme Court rules, even for interim stay a proper notice should go to the respondent state.

But, the court did not agree with his contention on this point and said there were numerous instances when stay orders had been passed in original suits by the apex court without any notice.

The court directed Haryana and the Centre to submit their replies by next hearing on the main petition by Punjab and the petition by Rajasthan. When Salve urged the court that the statement of Haryana’s counsel making a commitment that for the time being the canal was not being punctured, Shanti Bhushan strongly objected to it.

Bangalore, August 17
Indian Army chief General J.J. Singh today made it clear that the situation was not right for the withdrawal of troops from Kashmir as the border issue and the issue of infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan remained unresolved.

The Army chief, who was speaking to mediapersons after inspecting and flying on the weaponised version of the Advanced Light Helicopter - Dhruv at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) helicopter division today evening, however, clarified that the troop strength in the Valley was not being increased.

“There is no addition to troops. Only rotation is going on”. He said though confidence building measures (CBMs) were in place and encouraging steps like enforcing a successful ceasefire on the Line of Control (LOC) had taken place, the situation was far from normal.

“There are certain differences and variations in our perception of the border with China and we need to station troops on the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in the Siachin glacier, he added.

He said besides this there was the issue of infiltration of armed terrorists from Pakistan. “When we have information that armed terrorists are going to infiltrate what do you expect us to do?” he said adding in such a case employing troops for counter-infiltration was justified.

The army chief said the third issue was addressing the issue of law and order in the hinterland of Kashmir. “The Army has been called in to restore law and order and provide security to the people,” he said adding only when the situation normalises could the Army withdraw from such areas.

He, however, made it clear that Army presence was limited in urban areas in Kashmir where para-military personnel had been employed.

When questioned on the issue of perceived lack of transparency in promotions at the highest level in the Army, the General said the Army had a health promotion system in place. “The system ensures only the best officers to the place they go”, he said adding promotion decisions at the highest level were made by a team headed by the army chief and including the vice-chief.

Imphal, August 17
Twelve members of banned insurgent groups were arrested and pistols, ammunition, rifle parts and extortion notes seized from the official residences of three MLAs of the ruling Congress and the home of a former legislator during a search here today.

Eight cadres of the Kanglei Yaol Kanna Lup (KYKL) were arrested from the home of Congress MLA W. Brajabidhu Singh in the high-security Babupara area, where only ministers and legislators live. A search was carried out following reports that militants were sheltering there, DGP Y. Joy Kumar Singh said here today.

A disassembled M-16 rifle, two 9 mm pistols, ammunition and extortion letters addressed to businessmen were seized from the septic tank of a toilet in the MLA’s residence.

A cadre each of the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), both banned groups, were arrested from the official residence of another Congress MLA K. Meghachandra Singh.

A cadre of the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and a KCP member were arrested from the homes of Congress MLA Bijoy Koijam and former MLA N. Sovakiran during the search, the official said.

Cases have been registered against the three MLAs and the former legislator, he added.

The search, headed by IGP M. Karanjit Singh, was continuing at Brajabidhu Singh’s house till the filing of the report.
— PTI

New Delhi, August 17
In a significant proposal, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice has recommended implementation of reservation in the appointment of high court and Supreme Court judges, saying that if it could be applied to IAS, IPS and Central and state services, why should the judiciary be left out.

“When executive and legislature are brought under the ambit of constitutional reservation, it is but natural that the judiciary should also be covered by the principle of reservation,” the committee, headed by Sudrasna Natchiappan in its recommendation on the Judges Inquiry Bill, said. The report was laid before the Rajya Sabha today.

The Bill had been sent to the 26-member panel by Parliament for elaborate study on its provisions, as laid down by the UPA government in the propose law to make judges more accountable and public scrutiny.

The committee also questioned leaving the selection of judges entirely to the court
collegium, saying that while interpreting the Articles 124 and 127, the apex court, in its judgement of 1993, had given a “narrow” meaning to it.

It was also against diluting the power of Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against a judge for any misconduct. “The constitutional obligation, in any case, cannot be delegated or shifted to any body or institution by way of a statute,” it said.

The committee was of the strong view that the proposed Bill had the effect of “curtailing” the power of Parliament to discuss the conduct of a judge and initiate his impeachment, which could not be permitted under the Constitution.

Guwahati, August 17
The northeastern state of Manipur is staring at a crisis of life-saving medicines, thanks to militancy.

All pharmaceutical companies have stopped feeding drug dealers and drug distributors in the state with fresh stocks of any kind of medicines since the last week of July.

According to sources in Imphal, the militants have asked about 200 pharmaceutical companies to either pay up or close shop in the state and drug companies have apparently preferred the latter option.

The state is now facing a severe crisis of medicines once the current stock runs out in a few days. Already drug stores in Imphal have run out of many life-saving medicines and many people are banking upon friends and relatives in neighbouring states to procure medicines for them.

Meanwhile, the state government’s efforts to work out a strategy in coordination with drug dealers to bring fresh supply of medicines even under police escort from Guwahati has failed to deliver as drug dealers are simply unwilling to take any risk.

At the instance of Chief Minister Okram Ibodi Singh, DGP, Manipur, Y. Joykumar Singh held a meeting with medical representatives, drug store owners and dealers in Imphal on Tuesday and asked them to restore the supply of
medicines.

New Delhi, August 17
In a suggestion that will bring the higher judiciary into the ambit of quota conundrum, a Parliamentary committee has recommended reservation for Supreme Court and High Court judges.

Contending that the recommendation was within the provisions of the Constitution, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice in its report said the Constitution “has to be read and interpreted harmoniously and holistically” and Articles 124 and 247 have to be read with Articles 14 and 15(4).

“Without needing any further Constitutional amendment, the provision for reservation in the higher judiciary has been already included in Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution,” it said.

Calling for quota for SCs, STs and OBCs in the higher judiciary “to meet the ends of social justice and equity,” the report says there is no reason why judiciary too should not represent the reality of social milieu in which it has been created.
— PTI

New Delhi, August 17
The BJP today put up a brave face and ruled out any leadership change in Gujarat even as rebellion against the state Chief Minister grew with another veteran party leader Suresh Mehta openly defying the leadership of Narendra Modi.

“The BJP leadership does not feel there is any need to replace Modi.… He will continue to lead the party in the next elections,” senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told mediapersons.

She was reacting to a question on whether the BJP was considering a change in leadership in Gujarat in the wake of growing dissidence against Modi there.

“BJP national president Rajnath Singh and overall in charge of Gujarat’s election management Arun Jaitley are ceased of the matter. They will hold talks with the leaders in Gujarat to resolve the differences,” she replied to a question on whether the situation was going out of control.

Mehta, who was here, said he would not contest next assembly poll under Modi’s leadership. “I don’t know about others, but it is my personal decision,” he said, denying reports that he was in the capital to patch things up.

New Delhi, August 17
Under attack for the brutal killings of Hindi-speaking people in Assam by the outlawed ULFA, the UPA government blamed the previous NDA regime for all the present problems in the North-eastern region, especially Assam.

Rejecting the BJP charge that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had links with the ULFA, union minister of state for home Sri Prakash Jaiswal told mediapersons here that “the NDA had a hand in encouraging the ULFA.”

“How could ULFA become so active? It was not so strong earlier (before the NDA regime at the Centre),” Jaiswal, who returned here after a day’s tour, said.

Jaiswal, who gave a clean chit to the Assam Chief Minister, also asserted that “had he (Gogoi) not brought the situation under control, the state Assembly elections and the National Games would not have been held peacefully.”

The minister said that during his visit to review the situation in Assam, he had suggested to the Chief Minister to divide the 10,000 sq km Karbi Anglong district, which is thrice the size of Nagaland, into at least three police districts for better law and order administration.

At present, the district has only six police stations, he said adding the Chief Minister has agreed to his suggestion.